It's Resolution Time

Playing a trick on me
when I turned my back.

I don't really do that, but lately one specific issue that more than merits that kind of consideration has been huge drain on my limited energy and concentration. I am so tired of scrambling each year to finish and mail things, omitting Christmas cards or sending them late, and constantly feeling anxious about whether or not I'm going to finish everything I'd hoped and if it's going to arrive on time.

I'm never far enough ahead or caught up in knitting (or crochet or anything else) to be working on anything besides what needs to be done now. So it's hard to imagine planning crafting far enough in advance to not have to worry. It's clear to me (and would probably surprise no one) that budgeting my time and reconciling my big ambitions with realistically small planning.

Fortunately this was a fast project!

I finished the Clauses and the hotpad/trivet, but there were several other items I'd hoped to have finished by now, some not even started. I would have liked to knit a pair of Malabrigo loafers for a relative - the same one who got the Clauses and the hotpad and not the one who reads this blog. Well I wanted to make a pair for my Dad, too. It will take a bit of figuring to see if I can adjust my needle size to get a pair slightly smaller than small for my Aunt.

No progress since Oct.

Then there are the mostly finished things I haven't bothered to finish, like Jack Frost, who just needs fingers and blocking, both of the Alpaca alpacas... actually I never put the embellishments on either pair of my own Malabrigo loafers or affixed buttons to Prairie Boots, which I've been wearing around the house anyway. The second of three robots only needs arms sewn on, but the third is not yet cast on. The robots, along with a land & set playset were gifts that I hoped to finish for a friend with young boys. I cast on the train for that last night and haven't made much progress.

Sherbie, Alpaca alpaca

Deja Vu, Alpaca alpaca

Prairie boots, sans buttons

loafers, v.2

loafers, v.1

Nonetheless, I must admit if I were more disciplined about planning my projects and even more rigorous about finishing them before starting others, perhaps next year I could manage to have my holiday knitting/crocheting finished by mid-December and none of my birthday projects would be running late (like one for Amy, whose birthday was in April and Mic, whose b-day was in June). Of course those were multi item projects and there are some additional circumstances that caused me to delay finishing the last details of them, but still.  It's almost always the last finishing steps that are the biggest challenge. So this kind of thinking really needs an audio clip of maniacal laughing to accompany it.

Happy New Year everybody. Try not to be too tough on yourself.

Better photos of zippered bags

Forgot I'd taken these. Been distracted a bit lately.

 

It recently came to my attention that even the smaller bag, which I thought I'd made according to the pattern proportions and stitch count, is actually over-sized on it's own. Pffft - sometimes these things happen.

I'm totally loving that my sister's old camera enabled me to make a video clip of the unacceptable zipper noise and performance. It's so great when I can offer proof that it's not just me!

Holding hands

But not feeding ducks (ha ha!)

Actually I'm making the Mr. and Mrs. Claus hands and really enjoying it. They're surprisingly simple to make and one of the details that drew me to the pattern. I haven't managed yet to take a photo that captures the image I'd like, but the ones that came out in focus I'll share.





I ran out of yarn, using up all of the Bernat Satin Sport in Wine. I went out looking for it, knowing that when I bought it at Michael's it was the only skein they had. I was looking for sport or dk weight and still this was the only choice in the red range. It's been a nice choice, except that initially the skein had kind of a worn and manhandled look to it. If there had been any other available I would have bought that instead.

So I went to JoAnn's first, thinking that specifically the satin sport had been advertised in a recent flyer. Don't know for sure if it was or not, but all I could find was Bernat Satin in worsted. (I may never forgive them for rearranging the store in July!) Bordeaux appeared to be the exact same color was Satin sport Wine.

I went back to Michael's, where they scanned my yarn wrap and told me they should have had 1, then the clerk corrected herself and said 21. She called someone to help me look and I was a bit surprised where she looked for the overstock before declaring that they must have sold all of them today. I still think that sounds a bit far-fetched. Although it is a nice seasonal color. She went on to tell me that they get shipments on Tuesday and it might take a few days to get all the stock on the shelves, check back.

I figured I'd switch to the new yarn for pieces not yet crocheted. I even did an experiment with removing a single ply from the worsted yarn and crocheting the second of two identical parts in the modified yarn. The first had been done in unaltered worsted. I wanted to see whether it made a size difference (using the same hook for both). Removing a ply did seem to make the altered yarn about the same thickness as sport and I got the same wpi from it as well. Comparing the two finished items side by side (no photo to share yet as they all came out blurry) the size seemed the same. The difference was thickness - thicker yarn, thicker piece. It also made it feel a lot less pliable.

I think the full thickness of the worsted yarn is wholly appropriate to use in Mrs. Claus's dress. When I began the red portion of the dress in sport weight it seemed a bit airy to me. Actually that's the folded up bottom portion of the dress directly behind the hand on the right shown above. It's at about row 15 or so of 23. Oh - I did get a photo of that separately. I am enjoying the way the characters and their clothing are assembled. I suppose that may sound like a strange thing to say. Perhaps the construction is very standard for crocheting doll like figures. I can't recall whether I've ever crocheted similarly shaped and divided up items before. I guess there may be similarities to the knit Jack Frost I have yet to complete. He's on hold until I finish the things that need to ship out and arrive in time for Christmas.

I'm starting to get concerned that I may run out of the yarn in worsted weight as well. I understand what someone else told me yesterday that her patterns don't give yardage - well international wouldn't be yardage - meters that is, because she can't know what hook you used and what weight yarn. I still think it's kind of troubling to expect someone to guess. If it's going to take more than a skein or more than two skeins of yarn perhaps that really is something that should be known up front. Of course how is the designer to know what skeins I'm using, the meters are all different. I say do what everyone else does and write the pattern with amounts and names of yarn used and hooks or needles used. At least that gives everyone else a basis for comparison that you don't have when the pattern simply tells you to get the colors: red, white, fluffy white, black, dark gray, etc. I guess I should have been able to tell that so very much red would be required, but my skills just aren't there yet.

Caveat Zipper

Zip and unZip your zipper before knitting it into the bag, 

even if it's a new zipper! Perhaps you want to open the package in the store and check it before you bring it home...

The zipper in my larger little felted purse is a big disappointment and a chore to operate. While the zipper in the smaller bag glides back and forth easily with a high pitched zzeeeeppppp!, the zipper in the larger bag is sluggish and loud and difficult. I don't understand why. It's a brand new zipper that I bought at the in a group of maybe 7 new zippers, to match some non-felting yarn I had on hand in anticipation of making several zippered bags. New Coats and Clark nylon coil zippers. It has no business sounding like a belligerent, big metal-toothed zipper, sticking and rusted on a neglected sleeping bag or large utility object.

I didn't notice the difficulty with the dark green zipper until I had knit it in and was nearly half finished with the bag. At that point I thought I'd just have to pick up some wax or other such zipper fixing aid and deal with it later. When I checked at JoAnn's the only thing they could offer was beeswax in a plastic case with slits on both ends. I pointed out that it was labeled with instructions for waxing thread. But the sales associate insisted the slits were also fine for sliding zipper teeth through.

I tried applying the wax to the teeth of the zipper multiple times and working the zipper back and forth. It's never stuck, it just takes an astonishing amount of effort and makes a larger than expected amount of noise. I've come to the conclusion that perhaps the slider is the culprit rather than the teeth. Haven't had the time to really mess with it much since.

You can see the beeswax is kind of caked in there now. Not an attractive solution!

It made the zipper zip slightly less loudly and slightly more smoothly, but when I tried it again a day later it had returned to the original state. *sigh*


ETA: I've just checked the remainder of the zippers and found two or so that are going back for ones that are less loud and more smooth!

If only I knew...

If I knew my camera was going to die I would have uploaded my pictures earlier. I'm really not sure completely what happened, but I connected the USB cable to the computer and the computer couldn't see the camera. Well, I first noticed the photo program didn't see the camera, then I noticed the computer didn't. I went to the help menu and followed the suggestion to check that the cable was plugged in properly. All along I'd been ignoring a red flashing battery symbol in the upper left corner. Felt a bit puzzled about that because I had just swapped the batteries a few hours earlier and recharged the dead set. Just took a few pictures, so the batteries should not have been dead.

Back to the cables. I plugged one end into a different USB port on the computer and nothing else happened. Finally I looked at the tiny end of the cable connected to my camera. It seemed to be leaning downward, as if only partly connected. I pushed it in securely and it didn't feel right. I removed the end and saw that the port for that was half misaligned with the opening on the camera. When I tried to attach the cable again, hoping to kind of snag and pull it back in place it totally disappeared into the camera. Seems like I should hear something rolling around in there, but there isn't. Weird. At some point in turning off and on and switching to the view mode the battery symbol went back to all green and charged. Again, no idea why. Probably was before the USB connection broke off and vanished.

So, can't show any pics of the bigger little felted purse that I mostly bungled. Actually I took about 3 pics of that just before frogging it. Had goofed it in several ways: picked up too many sts, increased kfb too many times, and most prominently didn't use the matching zipper I bought to go with the yarn. I thought I'd only bought one dark green zipper to use with either of 2 dark green yarns, but actually had found two zippers, one that favored each yarn. When started the project I didn't realize I was using the less matchy zipper. But as I worked most of the top and nearly finished binding off it just seemed to stand out more and more.

What I had just taken a few snapshots of was version 2 of the bigger little felted purse. Both zippers are about 6.5" total and 5.5" zipper opening. I really like the size and proportions of the bag as the pattern is written, but I suddenly thought I'd like to make the next one wide enough to actually stick my whole hand in. I plan to just scale up all the dimensions. So on v2, the zipper is knit in and the top is completed and bound off. I'm picking up stitches around the bottom to work the body of the bag. For this one I thought ahead and measured out about 120" of yarn before I began attaching the zipper. I tied it up in a butterfly and then when I got to the picking up part around the sts knit through the zipper I folded the excess beginning length in half and then started using that with the crochet hook to pick up those stitches. It was near the end of the failed bigger version that I realized I'd avoid adding tails to weave in if I left a long enough tail at the beginning.

Earlier in the year we got rid of the printer that had been unreliable. It had memory card slots, including one for my dinosaur memory card. The new printer has slots, but not one as ancient as I need. There's probably 8 photos or less on the computer. I suppose the bigger disappointment is that I didn't take the opportunity to get a picture of Mrs. Claus with her hat. Mr.'s isn't finished yet, but hers is and it looks great. Oh well.

I really really dread having to figure out what camera features to look for in a replacement.  Too much stress! Maybe Walgreens can move my photos from the card to CD until I work through a better solution.

Taking a different view

The next thing that occurred to me for troubleshooting was to go sit at another computer and see just what it looked like from there.  In a matter of minutes I've seen the works in progress shows appear absolutely correct with photos displayed as expected, blurs of photos that don't display completely and fade immediately, and also plain white where the photos should be.  And this was with all no intervention at all from me other than viewing, clicking somewhere else and then returning to look again.

This feels far too much like having my brother and sister simultaneously trying to teach me to drive a stick-shift.  And by that I mean all of us in the car at the same time.  They're both younger, but have a tendency to gang up on me, always have.  That's a particularly vivid memory of unresolved confusion.  They both tell me what to do, they correct me and the result is sometimes the car moves forward and sometimes it dies.  The whole process is mysterious; I can't tell what was different at all between the times it worked and the times it failed.  At least here I have a more powerful reassurance that it's not me.  Since no changes were attempted and the result varied based on nothing more than a few more seconds time passing, I'm in an area outside of the sphere of cause and effect.  Feels a bit too familiar, in a very infuriating sort of way.  Random can be very uncomfortable.  Randomness is not usually my friend.

Photos still blank

Or are they?
At times there really is nothing to say besides the obvious.  Hopefully that statement soon won't make sense because this blip will have been resolved.  The whole episode will be no more than a vaguely recalled speed bump in a bigger adventure.

I've done everything I can think of and the works in progress show is still a blank white space where the photos go.  I guess it's just going to be malfunctioning until I can figure it out or just give up and delete it.  In the meantime I'll keep rearranging and poking around at it and trying to get answers and results.

Hmmmmm.  Just as I clicked preview the window displayed with both the new and old (code should match, though) WIP slideshows along with both FO shows that are currently there.  However, as I saw at times last night the timing of the WIP versions is off.  If it isn't completely blank, it's doing what I just saw: flashing a blur, just a brief fuzzy gray rectangle that never materializes into an image and fades out as soon as it appears.  So maybe the issue is timing???

Added above paragraph and clicked preview and now I see 2 working shows each of FOs and WIPs.  I know it isn't me, lol.  I guess I'm just going to have to live with this for a while...  Fortunately, since I'm pretty much the only one here, the oddness of it will likely go unnoticed.

Just for fun, I'm seriously considering how to go about changing the size of those items anyway.  Surely it's not the time to do anything extra when just the basics aren't 100%, but why would I leave well enough alone?  I've been sucked into the underlying gobbledegook of the working parts.  That's a clear invitation for tinkering!  I've always been the kind of person who knows just enough to be really dangerous that way.  I can embrace this aspect, especially when I'm being provoked by items changing and functioning by their own whims.  That's how I've managed to get a lot of skill and understanding in a range of areas.  I'm not the least bit afraid of replacing sinks, faucets, light fixtures, and even had the old washing machine and dryer set in pieces and then working again several times.  I am fearless this way.  I will prevail.

Sidebar Slideshow Hell

I sure wish I could understand what's going one with my Works in progress slideshow.  Earlier this evening I popped in to write a little and change some things around.  Spent some time finding and uploading some photos that go with a Halloween themed post that I started several days ago and still hadn't finished with the relevant images.  Made a few small changes in the design of the blog that seemed inconsequential, like adding a google search in the sidebar.  Suddenly I noticed that while my finished objects are displaying the works in progress right next door is completely blank!  The arrows and buttons are on the bottom, but there's nothing being shown.

Went back to Ravelry, searched the forums a bit.  Opened up the saved file of the code that was running these.  That was saved after copying and pasting via a link from Ravelry and then following the instructions to get my key and change everything the right places to my user info.  Scrutinized what I copied and pasted from the non-working gadget right next to the original text.  What a chore!

At different times and in different places of playing around with this I found sometimes "amp;" would appear after an ampersand (that's what this symbol: & is called; And I promise not to explain why/how it came to be called that - at this time, anyway).  So I started trying to edit those out those four characters, a through semi-colon.  Tried copying the code from the blog gadget for the finished objects, the working one, and changing the text to read "in-progress" instead of finished at the appropriate points.  It just seems every time I look at it something different has happened.   And none of my fixes are producing results that last.

Finally it seemed I had gotten both of the sidebar slideshows - sideshows! - working and then I opened a different tab or window and then went back to the blog and the WIPs was blank again.

Truly I don't need any additional aggravation or anything that would tend to make me feel like I'm losing my mind.  I have lost far more than anyone should have to lose in the first place.  Have been fighting fiercely to keep what's left of my brain ever since.

I suppose my best hope now is that tomorrow things will be normal... Or rather later this morning things will be normal.  I've been fussing with this so very long that it is after 3 AM for me.  I am so beat!

Doesn't everything taste better with dog hair?

I can't vouch for that.  But I remember seeing something, perhaps a mug, suggesting everything tastes better with cat hair.  I don't know because I don't have a cat.  I have a dog.  If I've been tasting her hair I haven't really noticed.  I suppose that means dog hair can be tasteless.  Mostly I've been unintentionally wearing her hair.  The light strands really accentuate my mostly dark and jewel-tone wardrobe.  At times I'll feel a sharp prick on my foot and find one of her hairs actually poking into my skin.  Not stuck against my skin, but a piece I have to grab, sometimes only catching it with tweezers, and yank out.  Who knew that hair could beat skin?

I just finished winding up a center-pull ball from one of the four skeins of String Theory Merino DK that arrived today.  Took a few snapshots, uploaded them to the computer and updated my Rav stash.  When I saw the photos on screen I noticed there was a strand of dog hair prominently on the top of the ball.  It appears in each of the photos just to the right of the plastic center piece.  I'm not sure how it found the opportunity to get there.  I had the winder in my hand and didn't set it anywhere except to prop it against the box part of my swift while I grabbed my camera.  That's not a lot of room for mischief, but I suppose dog hair finds the easiest and fastest path to stick to something everything.

I can be sure most things don't look better with dog hair.  Equally certain that nearly everything I own has dog hair on it somewhere.  There's just no stopping it.

I am not the least bit discouraged...yet

Although I have only just gotten started and have not so much as invited family and friends to view my latest indulgence, I was surprisingly dismayed to find that the page views component does not accurately track information.  It is clear that while I have the appropriate cookie settings and have selected the radio dial for not counting my own page views (and saved this setting which remains selected), when I edit and then view a post or rearrange gadgets there is invariably and additional page view recorded at the same time.

Beyond this, the malfunction is even clearer when noting that of all the page views recorded 100% of them were from a Mac OS using Safari.  Were I actively involved with an online graphic design group I might be persuaded to believe that statistic accurate.  I am convinced, however, that fellow Ravelers are largely Windows users.

I am writing for myself anyway.  I can own that.  I just don't understand why the blog has built in "vanity counting."